Iran’s Only Female Olympic Medalist Defects Over ‘Lies’ and ‘Injustice’

The president of Iran’s Taekwondo Federation, Seyed Mohammad Puladgar, said in a statement that his organization and the Olympic Committee had “made every effort to support” Ms. Alizadeh, and said the foreign media’s depiction of the situation was “simply false, unfair and untrue.”

Ms. Alizadeh’s announcement came four months after Saeid Mollaei, one of Iran’s biggest judo stars, defected to Germany. During last year’s judo World Championships, Iranian officials pressured Mr. Mollaei to either withdraw or intentionally lose his semifinal bout, to avoid being matched in the final against an Israeli rival.

Iranian athletes are forbidden to compete against Israelis.

“A lot of our athletes are forced to deal with these matters — and their suffering is growing by the day,” Mr. Mollaei told the German news outlet Deutsche Welle in September. “Many athletes have left their country and left their personal lives there behind to pursue their dreams.”

Ms. Alizadeh said that she had embarked on a “difficult path,” but that she “didn’t want to sit at the table of hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery.”

“This decision is even harder than winning the Olympic gold,” Ms. Alizadeh wrote, “but I remain the daughter of Iran wherever I am.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/world/middleeast/kimia-alizadeh-iran-defection.html?emc=rss&partner=rss